Boating New Zealand - July 2018

78 Boating New Zealand

he technology was successfully used at the last two

America’s Cups (in San Francisco and Bermuda) and is currently

being used by the Volvo Ocean Race at each stopover. he AtoNs

create a virtual ‘barrier’ to keep the spectator leet of the course

and well clear of the race boats. he racing perimeter showed up

clearly on the chartplotters of the spectator boats.

HOW IT WORKS

Virtual AtoNs use a nearby, land-based AIS station to

electronically ‘create’ the mark and transmit the co-ordinates

of the hazard or zone it’s marking. he higher the station, the

longer the range of transmission/reception to vessels.

Just as vessels with AIS-equipped chartplotters can ‘see’

and identify other vessels equipped with AIS, so too the virtual

AtoNs’ coordinates – together with information about what

they’re marking – are transmitted to your chartplotter. hey

alert the helmsman/skipper that he may be on a collision course

• well before the situation becomes dangerous.
  Similarly, the technology will warn a skipper that he’s about
  to drop his anchor over a high-voltage or ibre-optic cable – the
  consequences of which might annoy an awful lot of people due to
  interruptions in power supply or the internet.
  Tired of such anchoring mishaps, authorities in New York
  elected to install Vesper’s virtual AIS system in the city’s East
  River – creating a ‘no-anchor’ zone to eliminate damage to
  the cables providing electricity to millions of customers on
  Long Island.
  Vesper’s virtual AtoNs have also been used in a number

Similarly, the

technology will warn

the skipper that he

is about to drop his

anchor over a high-

voltage or fibre-optic

cable.